So Many Don’t Know Jesus is Alive – Do You?
1Corinthians 15
I. Introduction (1Corinthians 15:12-19)
A. So many people don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead (1Cor 15:12)
1. Listen to the Apostle Paul speak to people who believe that when Jesus died He stayed dead - He never came back to life. They believe there is no resurrection.
2. 1Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
3. Many believe that the idea of a resurrection from the dead is a lie - a fraud - and should not even be considered as possible
4. For the first time in history MOST people in Europe believe that there is NO life after death, and that there is no resurrection.
B. Let’s Consider the Stark Reality of No Resurrection (1Cor 15:13-19)
1. At least BIBLE BELIEVERS are willing to look at all the possibilities… Will you?
2. If there is no resurrection…
a. #1 Then Jesus is dead and gone forever
1) 1Corinthians 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen
2) Jesus cannot hear you when you pray
3) He can’t help you when you need Him
4) He is not keeping any of His promises of never leaving us or forsaking us
5) If there is no resurrection, THEN JESUS IS DEAD
6) At the end, on that cross, His breathing slowed and then ceased. His heart stopped beating. The soldier’s piercing spear ripped it open to make sure it was stopped!
7) His lifeless body was wrapped in a cloth and then laid in a nearby tomb, and sealed.
8) And if there is no resurrection, then Jesus never got up! He is still dead!
b. #2 All that Christians believe – everything from Genesis to Revelation - and all that Bible believing pastors preach is vain
1) 1Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain...
2) Vain means Worthless – empty - a complete waste of our time
3) All the Bible studies, all the Bible preaching and teaching
4) All the Christian conferences, Mission conferences, and evangelism conferences
5) All the times you read through your Bible, memorized its promises…
6) Were ALL wasted hours!
7) That is… If God can’t raise a dead person back to life
c. #3 To believe in the resurrection doesn’t actually do any good for anyone, because all you believe is founded upon a deceptive lie
1) 1Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then … your faith is also vain.
2) Everything you believe about heaven and hell, and God and eternity is wrong
3) That is… If God can’t raise a dead person back to life
d. #4 The truth is if there is no resurrection, then we Christians are complete liars!
1) 1Corinthians 15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
2) Let’s own this! If there is no resurrection, then we are LIARS!
e. #5 And Jesus is not where we think He is – instead He is somewhere in a grave still rotting away as worm food (1Co 15:16) For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised
f. #6 But worst of all we are still in our sins – we are slaves to the passions of our sins, and their consequences
1) 1Cor 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
2) And therefore, your sins will govern WHO you are, and WHAT you do, and HOW horribly you will live and die!
3) That is… If God can’t raise a dead person back to life!
g. #7 And those who have died are forever gone!
1) 1Corinthians 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
2) This is terrifying. People we said goodbye to at the grave are absolutely gone!
h. #8 We only have this life to live and we only have hope in this life
1) 1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable
2) No wonder most everyone is racing to GET, and BUY, and EXPERIENCE as many thrills as possible before their last heartbeat!
i. #9 We Christians are therefore the most miserable of all men alive!
1) 1Corinthians 15:19 … we are of all men most miserable.
2) Why? Because we have believed there is another life after death – that we don’t HAVE to accumulate wealth to be happy, and that God will make up for all we go through now, in the next life! In heaven!
3) But if God can’t raise the dead back to life…
a) Then THIS is all there is – this fleeting momentary breath, and then it is over
b) And we won’t acknowledge it
c) We are followers of a false hope and should just eat, drink, and be wasted, because tomorrow, we probably will die!
4) That was Richard Dawkins’s main point in everything he has preached as an atheist for the last 30 years
j. And Death becomes the absolute winner
1) Finally and forever
2) Our life, no matter how much we have loved and been loved, ends forever at death
3) No matter the injustices done to us, or by us, everything ends at the grave
4) That is… If God can’t raise a dead person back to life
3. Do YOU believe this life is all there is?
4. The Apostle Paul asks in Acts 26:8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? (‘incredible’ means IMPOSSIBLE)
II. Message - Let’s Now Look at the Facts!
A. But Paul says emphatically… Now is Christ risen! (1Cor 15:20)
1. 1Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead…
2. What a crazy thing to say! Yes! It is crazy to believe such a thing as the resurrection!
a. When people die, it sure looks like it is the end – that’s why we bury them, deep in a hole in the ground, and people weep, and grieve, and walk away
b. When Jesus died, it sure looked like it was the end too. The disciples wept bitterly, and watched as soldiers rolled a 1 ton stone over the entrance to the burial tomb, and then they all walked away!
c. But Jesus is alive NOW – not talking about way out at some far away final judgment day, but He got up just 3 days after His crucifixion, and He cannot die again!
3. FACT: There is an empty tomb outside Jerusalem – no one ever could boast such a thing
4. FACT: There were more than 500 witnesses of Jesus being alive again after His crucifixion
5. FACT: Paul himself, as the enemy of Jesus, actually saw Jesus ALIVE, heard Him, and was converted by His words! Paul is one of the greatest proofs that Jesus is alive by the way
6. FACT: the Bible is FULL of written prophecies that the Messiah would be murdered, and would be in a grave for 3 days and 3 nights, and then would rise again!
7. FACT: Jesus Himself promised over and over that He would be horribly crucified in Jerusalem, and then three days later, He would get back up!!! Why promise such an impossible thing if it wasn’t going to happen?
8. FACT: The Miracles that Jesus did continued for 30 more years after His resurrection – they didn’t end at His death
9. And Christ’s resurrection is only the beginning!
a. 1Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
b. His resurrection is called the first fruits.
c. It is a farming word which means there is a huge harvest ahead, and Jesus’ resurrection is just the beginning.
B. Jesus Brought to us a LIFE that Outlasts Eternity! (1Cor 15:21,22)
1. 1Corinthians 15:21,22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
2. He did not bring just more death
a. The cross would have meant nothing if that was all Jesus could do!!!
b. Any religion can try and prepare you for death – only jesus can prepare you for what is AFTER death!
3. It was the first man, named Adam that gave us death – blame him
a. Yes, we believe Adam was the first man
b. To deny Adam is to deny our own existence – we humans came from two perfect human ancestors - not apes, or amoebas!
c. Adam chose to disobey God, and sin against God, and the consequences are GRAVES FULL OF DEAD BODIES
d. Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden condemned all of us to death
4. It was another man, Jesus the Messiah, who brought life back from the dead
a. All men and women, boys and girls, old and even young, all die!
b. But… All who get into Christ, live forever and will experience a resurrection!
1) Getting deep into religion will NOT bring life from the dead, no matter how many prayers you pray, or good deeds you do
2) Expensive counselling, or drugs, will not bring your body up from the grave
3) But Getting INTO Jesus Christ, by receiving HIM into your heart WILL put you on track to eternal LIFE, starting the very moment you believe!
5. And offers it to all who would ask in faith!
C. Everything Will Happen in the Proper Order of Time (1Cor 15:23,24) – right on schedule
1. 1Corinthians 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
2. To you, a schedule may not matter – but it does to God!
3. God is a God of order – a schedule – a well laid out and arranged plan
4. Paul now goes through a brief summary of Bible prophecy… what is just ahead – and it is NOT a grave for the believer!
5. His resurection schedule Started with the Cross and then the burial - just as prophesied
6. And THEN CAME THE MORNING, when Jesus got back up! Sunday morning!
a. Jesus is the FIRST Man to resurrect from the dead and never die again
b. And because He got up from the grave, more will follow!
7. The next event on God’s schedule will be one massive Resurrection at Jesus’s Return
a. There are actually seven resurrections throughout the Bible – ours in #5 on God’s list
b. 1Corinthians 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
c. Jesus Christ the first one resurrected, that will never to die again
d. And afterward, there is a resurrection of believers who will come back with Him at His second coming!
e. I sure hope you know and have learned these things! They are AWESOME truths!
8. And then something happens called THE END (1Cor 15:24) – which is not the last end
a. 1Corinthians 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
b. When Christ gives his kingdom to his Father
c. THE END is a time when all human and demonic power and authority will have been put down! Just as described to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2, in a dream where a defiant image of all the world empires is completely destroyed by the COMING of great Stone from heaven, Jesus the Messiah!
d. And this END will start an ETERNITY, which will never end!
9. So the most important thing to believe is that Jesus is quite alive and coming back soon
a. Did you know that the LAST prayer in the Bible (go to Revelation 22:21) is NOT for world peace? It is not for all nations to come together!
1) It is not for wars to stop, and not for people to love one another
2) It is NOT for a new world order, or social justice, or equality, or civil rights!
3) It is “EVEN SO, COME BACK LORD JESUS!” Amen!
4) And believe me, He is coming soon! And I’m excited about it, and praying for it
b. We Bible believers have so much more than a grave ahead of us!
1) We will one day have new bodies (perfect ones), a new earth (you go ahead and try and save THIS one – I am looking forward to the new one), a new universe
2) And the resurrection of Jesus Christ started it all!
3) Obviously Jesus died and was buried… but if we believe Jesus rose from the grave, then there is still so much ahead beyond a grave (1Thessalonians 4:13-18)
a) 1Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
b) 1Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
c) 1Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
d) 1Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
e) 1Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
f) 1Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
4) Jesus IS coming back, and best of all, WE are coming back WITH Him, all because of the resurrection! (1Thessalonians 4:14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
D. Quick Review – it amazes me that most Christians don’t know or understand these things
1. You are a three-part person – you are more than just flesh and blood
a. You are a body, and a soul, and a spirit, all at the same time!
b. Your BODY is how you live here in this world – but it is temporary – it will die – it is NOT the most important part of you!
c. Your SOUL is the real you, made in the image of God, and lives forever – never dies
d. Your SPIRIT is the only way for your soul to know God and talk to God and walk with God – but because of sin, it is dead from birth – your spirit was born dead in sins, and needs to be born again!
2. Now, when your body dies, that cold, dark grave is not the end
a. When your body ceases to breath and live – your soul and spirit are pulled away
b. That body of yours will be placed in a grave, or you may want to cremate it – makes no difference. It is DEAD
c. But your SOUL does not disappear – it cannot die – even in hell, where people WISH they could die, they won’t be able to die forever and ever and ever!
d. Your soul at death wakes up either in heaven with the Lord Jesus, or in hell, with the damned! (Luke 16:22,23; 2Corinthians 5:6,8)
1) Luke 16:22,23 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
2) 2Corinthians 5:6,8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
e. But heaven is not the end for us Christians either…
3. One day God is going to put our divided lives back together with a new body – a changed body – a perfect body that cannot die!
a. And that is why the resurrection matters!
b. God leaves nothing undone – whatever sin and the devil has broken and ruined, God WILL restore and rebuild! If we will believe in Jesus!
c. 1Corinthians 15:50-54 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
4. And then Jesus WILL Reign as King of Kings and Lord of lords, over every square inch of this world (1Cor 15:24,25)
a. Hitler tried to rule the world, and failed miserably
b. Alexander the Great tried to rule the whole world, and failed – died at 30 years of age
c. Nebuchadnezzar tried to rule the whole world, and failed
d. Every Roman Caesar tried to rule the world, and failed
e. Genghis Khan came the closest to ruling the entire world, but failed
f. Atilla The Hun, failed - Cyrus the Great, failed - Napoleon, failed
g. And one day the coming antichrist will try and rule the world, but thankfully will fail!
h. Jesus’ Reign is Still Ahead - Thank God!
1) 1Corinthians 15:24,25 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
2) It is called the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ - 1,000 wonderful years of heaven on earth – the Garden of Eden restored – the lamb laying down with a lion – the sword beat into a plough
3) And all enemies will finally be defeated!
a) Not just human enemies
b) But enemies like, sickness, disease, sorrow, envy, hunger, wars, sin, and temptation, even Satan himself will be locked away for those 1,000 years
5. And THEN the final enemy that will be defeated will be DEATH itself (1Cor 15:26)
a. God saves the best for last, AMEN!
b. 1Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
c. One day, DEATH itself will die – will be destroyed - what a promise!
d. All because Jesus died, and was buried, and rose again, and will never die again!
III. Conclusion
A. So now you know why we Bible believers get so excited about Sundays! About Easter!
B. Because Who we worship is very much ALIVE again
1. We couldn’t care less what is on Netflix, on TikTok, or who is running for Taoiseach
2. We don’t care about money, or successes, or stocks, or gold, or cathedrals, or temples
3. JESUS rose back to life on the First day of the Week (Sunday) after being dead three long days and three long nights… And that is why we gather to worship Him EVERY Sunday
C. And because death has no grip on us now!
1. To us Christians, death is not morbid, dark, scary, or the end of anything!
2. It has lost its grip on us! It is defeated, and one day will be gone forever!
3. John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
D. The Resurrection is the best part of the Gospel, the good news (1Corinthians 15:1-4)
1. 1Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
2. Do you want to be SAVED? To have the gift of eternal life? BELIEVE Jesus is alive!
E. Wake Up Christian (1Cor 15:34)
1. 1Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
2. Some if not most do not know these great facts
3. They still live in fear of death all their lives (Hebrews 2:14,15) Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
4. And to be honest – it is OUR own fault
5. We have been dulled, bored, numbed into thinking this is not worth really believing
6. But everybody needs to know that…
a. Jesus is very much alive
b. And is coming back again soon as the righteous judge
c. Until then, death is not the end for anybody
d. Will you face Jesus as FAMILY, or as JUDGE?
e. Tell someone Jesus is alive – use a Gospel tract – tell YOUR testimony of how YOU got worried about your eternity, and turned to Jesus Christ to save your soul!
F. Wake Up Dear Friend
1. If you are NOT ready to die, and not ready to meet God – then why not humble yourself, and talk to God as a sinner, and ask Jesus to save you from all your sins!
2. That simple child-like request will change not only your destiny (from hell, to heaven), but also change your future, starting NOW!